In that moment, that one brief moment of relief, she saw the steed climb forward, up and over neighing loudly, determined to be on solid ground he trotted across the ice; slipping sideways here and there but steadfastly charging forward. As the echoes of that horse rolled over the hillside, two miles north Darkeel stopped and she felt a haunting penetration into her own mind that she’d never experienced until this day. It was his form shrouded in darkness turning around and staring directly into her soul, she felt his being force himself into her mind, casting aside all other reality that was currently within her psychic field of sight. She felt the charging of the horse going forward but all she could see in these haunting gallops and haze was his face, not Kyle’s, but his face. A vexing expression filled with rage, she was more than certain as to who this was, she’d felt him whenever Kyle couldn’t keep him at bay;
“I thought I told you I wanted a head start? She’s mine, you’re just here for the cleanup. That is the only purpose I allow you to have, to clean up my messes after I’ve enjoyed a fresh kill.”
His menacing smile expanded and contorted, his green eyes glowing and his long black hair flowing in all directions. Jess instantly saw him where he was transmitting from, a hellish existence, a planet of sulphuric smoke and menacing disfigured faces shaking and screaming in torment, moving so swiftly that no facial expressions were recognizable, if they even had facial expressions at all. The rivers of blood and lava were flowing towards one menacing set of castles on top of a dark abandoned hillside. Instantly through front door Jess felt she was whisked within unable to do anything but stand before him in all of his dark and irreverent glory.
“Darkeel? So that’s what you’ve been calling yourself all these years, when you came to me and tormented my life for so long in my youth? I knew you as Lupin.”
The sinister being with legs crossed at ankles, covered in layers of black armor and long rolling fabric of red and black bleeding into one another to remind Jess of the blood soaked abyss. He smiled his porcelain face and long fingers curling towards his chin with pointed nails.
“Ah, my sweet child don’t you know that we come to each of you in many forms. We are called by many names. Your powers differ vastly from his, this is why you and I have a much more special connection that Kyle and I have never had.”
In that moment she felt him inside of her, swimming and stirring, tormenting her body, the most pleasurable parts of her flesh, leaving his poisonous stains inside of her, filling her with rage and ecstasy blindingly mixed in a concoction that left her head swimming now more than ever.
“It really is you that I feel inside of him pushing him to the brink of madness, taking me over and over again and lashing me with your twisted hands upon my silken skin.” She heard his menacing laughter and his whispers of cruelty;
“Mmm yes, I never took a liking to pleasure before I brought the two of you together, but now I have a taste for so much more on this planet. I must express my gratitude to you, such a seductive feline masquerading in human form.”
In that moment she flashed back fully into her body, though she felt his presence deep within her, pushing her powers forth and making her shift. She felt her teeth elongate, her eyes slit and glow, as she felt every hair on her body tingle, stand up straight charged with electricity, she watched as his horrifying energy seeped forth out of her. Slamming back into the back of Kyle’s head causing him to fall forward into the snow gripping for mercy. In unison they screamed and Sara heard their voices closing in on her. The sounds of two banshees clashing in rhythmic cadence, leaving the hillside streaked in blood, snow and the songs of harpies. Sara closed her eyes and grabbed her knees, her ass pressed hard against the birch trees behind her, she started to weep.
“Please my love, find me before he does. I know you can hear me, feel me, sense me.”
As Sara raised her eyes towards the night sky, the snow finally stopped. The howling was replaced with silence that seemed louder than the whistling on the winds of time. Her eyes bleeding, Jess didn’t realize until now just how long it’d been since Sara had fed. Those stains on the snow weren’t from her fingers but her tears, her tears of abandonment, hopelessness and isolation. Jess felt an overwhelming amount of guilt rearing up inside as she charged the horse forward. Neighing furiously it began to stampede over now frozen packs of snow.
Kyle breathing heavily, his arrows tucked away safely in quiver, his bag still over his shoulders filled with his tools, devices and favorite ax. He looked down at his hands and saw them gripping the snow as if it was actually something to hold onto.
“Fuck! You fucking bastard, leave her alone, Jess is mine! I’m already giving you Sara, it’s going to tear us apart and I’ve already accepted that you fucking prick! Give her to me!”
In that moment Kyle saw the memories flashing by in her mind, the years of giving herself over to this dark wandering visitor from another world that beckoned and beguiled her into pleasures against the very volition of her will. Kyle looked up mortified realizing that he’d been fucking her for years now in their preternatural world of dream fueled nightmares.
“But how? How is this fucking possible?” Shaking his head in awe and shocked silence he waited to hear the words of confession that spilled across the lips of his haunting conductor.
“You see, demons have a way of arriving to each of their minions in an intrinsic way, quite specialized and designed for each and every one of your darkest fantasies. She wanted to be taken, needed to be ravaged, captured and mercilessly destroyed. You needed to hunt, you ached for the kill, it was the perfect solution to both of your problems, as well as my own. I’ve been waiting to finish this game of chess for far too long, and perhaps I’ll even show you my final masterpiece.”
In that moment Jess felt herself next to Kyle even though he was over two miles to the west. She’d never had the ability to hear in stereo surround sound what it was like for them to speak to one another but as her powers were heightened by Darkeel’s torture, she found herself listening into his words of response to Kyle’s sheer rage at such a revelation.
“What the fuck do you mean, your game? I’ve been waiting for centuries, spanning time and space and endless lifetimes just to find her again. Do you fucking think I’ll let you come near our empire? After all this time forging it into existence? I want to strangle the life out of you with my bare hands!”
As Jess passed by he felt her energy and instantly peered towards her direction miles away and their eyes met on that profound plane of communication that their souls shared like no other two in this world.
“Don’t do it Jess! You belong to me, don’t listen to him!”
For the first time in his life Kyle heard her voice respond, her voice echoing inside his mind clear as day, “A girl must do what she must.” She smiled softly and sauntered forward, inching closer and closer towards the direction of where Sara was still hiding.
“My love, I’m coming for you, but you have to trust me, trust me more than you ever have in this life, and we might survive this. I know it seems crazy but no matter what happens, trust me.”
Sara’s eyes turned towards the darkness as the snow stopped falling her beautiful face was streaked in dried bloody tears, her body pressed firmly against the birch trees. She tried her best to find the courage to move towards the next set of hills covered in trees, she wanted at all costs to be far away from the voice that kept yelling in the night at a man who she could not hear, see or even feel with her abilities. Sara and Jess both knew sunrise was fast approaching, as twilight broke their eyes, Jess knew in her heart of hearts that Sara wasn’t going to be able to hide. Sara was a blinding black target that radiated her location along the vast spans of porcelain hillside. She saw as Kyle stood over the horizon his menacing shadow form stretching towards the sky echoing yells of anger that were unable to be deciphered at this distance.
Jess charged forward on her
valiant steed feeling her heart crushing as she closed the distance and knew she’d make it to Sara before Kyle ever stood a chance. Her haunting soul sang whispers of adoration towards him hoping he’d embrace the sanctity of her soul.
“If everything works out according to plan, I won’t have to break promises to anyone tonight. Trust me…”
Kyle’s eyes caught her in the distance, she was such a small figure charging towards her dark destiny. He watched and waited to see where she was going before charging forth to the northern tip of Royal Gorge. He was mesmerized by her courage and conviction, never did he imagine her forging a dark path in life for herself alongside his, and this epiphany was never formulated into his plan. As he watched her steed leap forth towards the direction of the lines of birch trees, for the first time since he’d stopped; He saw her there, sitting in the form of a rock, stirring suddenly he watched her rise, back against the trees still peeking forth to show the parts of limbs still exposed for the kill.
Without hesitation his hand reached back and pulled an arrow from his quiver, before he could blink the arrow was knocked and ready to fly. Before Jess ever made it to Sara she heard that shattering sound of screams filling the woods. She tapped into Kyle’s mind and watched the arrow land directly into her left shoulder. Sara’s screams filled the trees scattering sleeping crows to the winds, as they flew overhead towards her final resting place. Before Jess could calm her or reach her to throw her onto the back of her horse, she saw Sara bolting towards the gorge at an alarming pace.
“No, please my love, not that way! Any way but that way! Sara No!” Jess’s siren voice echoed in the trees, Kyle bolted ahead and Jess watched him disappear over another hillside covered in snow.
Disappearing beyond the trees, she felt her heart racing as she sensed Kyle’s presence along with Darkeel’s fast approaching. Now realizing the terror in every woman’s heart who’d ran in fear across the haunted forest of The Slaughterhouse Hills Hunter. Never before in all of her lives had she felt hunted like this before. The impending doom caused the adrenaline in her blood to spike, forcing her fangs and eyes to glow menacingly, her powers were tainted with Darkeel’s toxic potion. She felt the pain rushing forth into her neck, her chest and down into her sides. Her ribs growing tight suddenly throwing her from her horse and onto the snow, her ribs crashing onto the broken tree limbs he’d planted there just weeks before knowing that it would create an impossible landscape for anyone to navigate through.
Jess’ painful screams echoed through the forest, Sara was charging forth towards Royal Gorge for her very survival and Jess now winded with three broken ribs stood up slowly with gear still on torso, looking around for her horse that was now running off in the wrong direction alone. She stood gripping her ribs, barely able to breathe she spit fresh blood on the snow and yelled;
“Fuck!” She felt her legs sinking in with every step, but she clung to tree branches and shook the snow overhead, leaving a trail back to where she started so that she could find her way home again when all of this was finally over.
As she followed the blood soaked tracks of her beloved, she felt herself getting closer. She could smell her, taste her, the iron in her blood tormented this hungry vamp to hunt harder, to kill faster and to move swiftly towards the direction of her sinful fate. Before she could make it to the next clearing she saw his form standing in full ominous figure like a giant black bird ready to swoop in and carry her away far from her beloved; leaving her somewhere without the ability to reach her in this perilous moment. She stood and stared directly at Kyle knowing full well that he was no longer here.
He was gone, swallowed in the dark ether, the powerful current of Darkeel was fully present and there would be no mercy this early morning. She smiled lovingly and looked into him, her green eyes glowing, making the perfect target as she ran towards Sara defying the very odds that stood against her, equipped with devices of finality that would soon desire to meet her.
“I dare not ask what I already know the answer too, please forgive me Kyle, but Darkeel and I have unfinished business to attend too. Forgive me my love. Oh God, please forgive me.”
Jess with one final absolution of guilt fled towards the horizon and trees where Sara was bleeding and crying on the snow fearing her ultimate demise. Jess bolted fiercely forward using her equipment as a shield to her body. She heard the screams of arrows flying overhead closer and closer they landed, behind each step, over her head, trailing in front of her very eyes and still she charged forward without hesitation. She could feel the deepest parts of Kyle still active inside somewhere, altering his aim, changing the direction ever so slightly to ensure that she would be missed.
“Fucking whore! I’ll add you to my collection, have your pretty little head to fuck and stare at whenever I please, spitting on you to remind you of your place, beneath me!”
In that moment Darkeel bolted towards her direction, sending chills of sheer horror up the spine of Kyle’s beloved, her eyes widened as his pace was preternatural, moving effortlessly over the snow like a shadow, so swiftly like a man running in a hand held flip book. His demonic staccato rhythms came closer and closer towards her, still Jess ran. Looking down in the snow below she saw the drops of Sara’s blood soaked tears leading her to where she was needed most in this lifetime.
“Mistress, is that you? Oh God please hurry, I’m so cold, the blood is everywhere.”
Sara’s beautiful voice was shaking violently, hypothermia and frost bite was setting in. Her beautiful pale skin now tinged in blue and black, Jess leapt forward to reach her and in that moment the screams escaped her lips unable to move. She fell to the snow pack just feet away from the love of her life, now bleeding before her eyes, doing her best to hold on long enough just to say goodbye.
“My love it was never supposed to take place this way. I’m here, I’ll be here until your final breath, hold on Sara…just hold on.”
Jess looked down and her vison started to blur, she felt the sweet escape of atropine filling her blood with insanity. She knew he prepared these to be fatal doses, and for Sara it was certain that she wouldn’t make it. It would be a miracle if Jess even woke up after the adrenaline coursed this much poison through her veins. The arrow stood out of her back, directly in the meat of her shoulder blade, fortunately a minor flesh wound if only she had a tolerance that could endure.
Kyle’s smile appeared, he was present, Darkeel was present, together they stood side by side simultaneously relishing in this decadent show of horrors that was prepared just for their eyes. He knew it would take time to convince her that Darkeel was a separate being but he never realized how deeply she’d fall head over heels for him, never realizing that the two beings were one in the same. His ominous presence stood over the northeastern hillside, he started to walk towards them. Sara looking over and seeing him, she started to cry. The blood still pooling forth from her chest, the tip of the arrow sticking out six inches forward and through her artery, Sara didn’t stand a chance. Jess looked over to see Kyle releasing a shower of arrows in their direction, whistling ahead over trees, crows cawing in the distance fleeing this haunted place. She felt them land around them, once more piercing her flesh and hitting her in the back of her thigh. Jess’ screams echoes throughout the woods and she slowly drug herself to Sara’s side.
Jess screamed and stood up, tearing her claws at the trees for momentum and forcing herself forward towards her. Hearing her screams of fear echoing against the wooded sanctuary that they now found themselves in. Resting near Sara and watching her eyes focusing on the snow as it started to fall, they could both hear his footsteps approaching but the only thing Sara could say was,
“Isn’t it all so beautiful?”
Jess curled up next to her, arrows protruding out of her back and thigh, leaving blood to gush forth in spurts her body feeling weak and subdued.
“Don’t give up on me now my pet, we have to make a run
for it.” Sara laughed manically. The sheer idea of even moving was agonizing let alone running for any short period of time.
“Can you stand? If you can stand I can drag you to our final destination. We can go together just you and me, for old times’ sake?”
Sara smiled and reached for her Mistresses lips, kissing them passionately for what might possibly be the last time she whispered to her warmly purring in her ear;
“As you wish my Queen, I’ll follow you to the ends of the earth and beyond, you have been my greatest reason for living.”
Off in the distance, his menacing approach started to close in on them. Kyle wandered over with his bag over his shoulders, his quiver still half full of atropine laced arrows and his bag of toys still firmly gripped in his tightly clenched fist. He marched forward each lumbering step he took sunk into the earth’s bed. Each foot of snow reaching instantly upwards towards his hips, a dark phantom shadow drudging forward towards his longed for kill. It was bittersweet this twisted twilight morning, as the snow continued to fall; he watched as Jess leaned forward, pushing her body upwards and doing her best to refrain from screams and yells of agony. He watched as she pulled herself up one of the birch trees that was now decorated in poisoned arrows. She looked over her left shoulder, a single wisp of red hair trailing down her porcelain face. She’d never looked so pale before, without the latex catsuit she would’ve blended into the mountain side like a delicate winter hare.
A Scarlet Collection of Monsters and Madmen Page 48
